After a soaring start, Gerald Green has taken a long path to the top

Gerald Green, drafted out of Gulf Shores Academy by the Celtics in 2005, won the NBA slam dunk title two years later but is still striving to become the complete player many envisioned. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

His place in league history, or at least as a trivia answer, was assured before he stepped onto an NBA court, but that was never the goal.

For that matter, Gerald Green would rather lose his first claim to NBA fame. The last player drafted into the NBA directly from high school when he was selected by the Boston Celtics out of Gulf Shores Academy in 2005, Green favors changing the rule back to allow players to make the jump he made.

“I kind of wish they’d change that rule,” Green said. “It’s a thing I’m proud of because of the accomplishments I’ve achieved. I reached my goal. I’m very proud of that.”

Green, 27, has been known for his prodigious leaps since, winning one All-Star Weekend dunk contest (2007), putting on a show in another and earning an invitation to compete in another Saturday at Toyota Center, bringing him back to his hometown.

The 6-8 Green initially wanted to leave his dunk contest days behind him, having evolved into a more well-rounded player than when he won the McDonald’s high school all-star game dunk contest in 2005 and stole the show in Las Vegas.

“I won one, lost one,” Green said. “They were good experiences. They were a lot of fun.
“At first, I wasn’t going to, but people at home want me to.”

Green won in 2007 at Las Vegas and provided an unforgettable performance the following season when he blew out a candle on a cupcake sitting on the rim.

Green spent the years since paying dues and dunking, playing in Russia and China before landing this season with the Indiana Pacers — the third team he will represent in the dunk contest after stints with the Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves, the years overseas, and his return to the NBA with the Nets in 2012.

The right choice

But for all his travels, Green has no regrets about his now-prohibited decision to go directly from high school to the NBA.

“I absolutely would do it the same way,” Green said. “I just would apply myself differently once I got in the league. I could have done things differently. I could have been a better professionally. I wouldn’t have taken it for granted the way I did.

“I learned a lot throughout the years of being overseas. It developed me on and off the court to be a better player and a better person.

“As a player, knowing how to play the game, knowing how to get my shot or create a shot for a teammate. As a person, just becoming a man. When I got drafted, I was a boy. Growing up overseas, living by yourself in a country that doesn’t speak English, you definitely grow up as a man. I have a son now. A lot of things have changed.”

Green is averaging seven points and 2.6 rebounds this season, but his struggles with his shot, especially from the 3-point line, dropped him out of the Pacers’ rotation.

After so many stops, Green signed a three-year, $10.5 million contract and believed he finally had reached the promise — and role — expected when he made his first NBA jump the last of its kind.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been bouncing around,” Green said. “I finally feel like I found a home. I feel happy I found an organization I can call home.”

By this weekend, he will be back home, offering a reminder of the other trivia question his name answers as the only Houston native to have won an NBA dunk contest.

Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

Image 1of/30

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 30

2014: John Wall

Location: New Orleans
Team: Washington Wizards

Note: Wall was voted the dunker of the night by the fans. Wall, Indiana's Paul George and Toronto's Terrence Ross won the team dunking competition.
less

2014: John Wall

Location: New Orleans
Team: Washington Wizards

Note: Wall was voted the dunker of the night by the fans. Wall, Indiana's Paul George and Toronto's Terrence Ross won the team dunking ... more